St. Eustatia
Sint Eustatius, also known affectionately to the locals as Statia or Statius, is a small Caribbean island and a special municipality (officially public body) of the Netherlands. The island lies in the northern Leeward Islands portion of the West Indies, southeast of the Virgin Islands. Sint Eustatius is immediately to the northwest of Saint Kitts, and to the southeast of Saba. The regional capital is Oranjestad. The island has an area of 21 km² (8.1 sq. miles). In the 2001 census, the population was recorded as 3,543 inhabitants, with a population density of 169 inhabitants per square kilometre. The official languages are Dutch and English. St. Eustatia in 1632 Note: This is the spelling Flint and Gannon use in 1636: Commander Cantrell in the West Indies. Thanks to information in Grantville's histories, the Dutch West India Company began colonizing St. Eustatia in 1633, years earlier than it had in the OTL. As in the OTL, the first settlers were led by Pieter Corselles. In 1634, it sent one of its more capable administrators, Jan van Walbeeck, to the island, and Corselles was shifted sideways to become the local director of the West India Company. Also in 1634, Maarten Tromp evacuated the Dutch colony in Recife, Brazil and relocated to St. Eustatia, as the Spanish were largely disinterested in the Windward and Leeward Islands. Tromp's arrival increased the colony's size from 250-300 people to roughly 3000. Among other things, this meant that St. Eustatia could not feed itself without making arrangements with the disowned English colony on nearby St. Kitts (St. Christopher's). Even then, there were times when supplies brought in by the corsair Cornelis Jol had provided the margin of survival. In 1635, hunger remained a real threat, and food and fresh water were rationed. The colony's original cash crop was tobacco. However, Tromp, realizing that the colony's loss of access to European markets made most New World cash crops valueless, was able to push through a prohibition on tobacco-growing. He encouraged the growing of sugar cane, on the grounds that it was the only cash crop that was useful locally; the sugar, rum, and pure ethanol that could be produced from it could be used by the colony or traded on nearby islands. Tromp and van Walbeeck also prohibited the acquisition of new slaves, for both ethical and practical reasons. Since many of the original settlers had come looking for quick wealth from slave-grown tobacco, and sugar cane was very labor-intensive, they did not receive this well. In August of 1635, Reconnaissance Flotilla X-Ray, consisting of USE and Danish ships, arrived in Oranjestad. The tent city that had grown around Oranjestad reminded Eddie Cantrell of the war refugees that had come to Grantville following the Ring of Fire, and he ordered that some of the ships' stores, including discretionary items from the officers' and passengers' provisions, be given to van Walbeeck for distribution, under the fiction that they had been carried as supplies for the colony. In November of 1635, St. Eustatia became one end of the world's first trans-Atlantic radio link when a large antenna was built on the dormant volcano locally known as "The Quill".From the Dutch kuil ([ˈkœyl]), meaning 'pit' or 'hole'; originally used for the crater. In that same month, Tromp and van Walbeeck, using a combination of contemporary information and up-time models provided by Michael McCarthy, Jr, were able to persuade the colony's council that depending on slave labor made the colony more vulnerable. They were able to get all slaves on the island reclassified as bondsmen who would become free after five years. They were also able to get a declaration that any future bondsmen would become free after five years of service. This was even less popular with the slave-owning landowners than the earlier restrictions had been. In December of 1634, St. Eustatia was attacked by a mixed force of French and Kalinago, under Jacques Dyel du Parque, Jean du Plessis, and Charles de l'Olive. They chose that time because, having bribed many of the landowners, they knew that many of St. Eustatia's ships and troops would be on their way to Santo Domingo. The attackers were able to temporarily disable the radio antenna, but were not able to do so undetected. Some of the radio workers, including McCarthy, were able to get down from The Quill and warn Oranjestad; and many of the former slaves on the work crew decided to stand and fight. The view from The Quill showed that more ships had stayed behind than had been expected, so du Parque decided that Oranjestad could not be held, even if it could be burned. Between being disgruntled and well-bribed, most of the landowners did not turn out to defend Oranjestad, but a few did join the hastily-raised defense. The defense, which also included several of the town's women and soldiers who had been in the town's infirmary, managed to hold until the attack was broken by the arrival of Irish troops under Hugh O'Donnell and Dutch troops from the ships in the harbor. The radio antenna was repaired by January 1, 1636, and trans-Atlantic communication was re-established. Notes Category:Islands Category:Geography Category:1632 series